by Aaron M. Renn
Chronicling life riding the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
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How I missed this until now I don't know, but the Evanston Express trains will make stops at Addison St. during the afternoon on days when the Cubs have a night game.
It's official. The Grand/Milwaukee/Halsted L station is now open again after a $1.3 million renovation project. The station had closed due to low ridership (800 daily) in 1992. With a recent luxury housing boom in the area, the CTA believes ridership will substantially exceed the previous totals. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 25 June 1999 ]
It was a mixed bag for Chicago area transit in Congress this week. The CTA received far less than it had requested. The House allocated only $2 million each for the Douglas and Ravenswood projects. The CTA had requested $95 million. Metra received $25 million, however. These are not the final figures though. There are still several additional steps before the the transportation spending bill is finalized this year. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 25 June 1999 ]
The CTA agreed to an out of court settlement with its employees in a 13 year old lawsuit. The CTA had argued that it was not required to pay for re-training time for workers who transferred to higher paying jobs through the seniority process. The CTA had won its case in a lower court ruling, but agreed to pay $1.4 million anyway, ending an appeal by the workers. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 24 June 1999 ]
Colin Watts (nospam-cwatts@pinnacle-solutions.com) had this interesting experience on the Belmont bus last week:
"I take the 77 to the Blue Line for work. Last week, as often happens, buses were 'stacked' and two showed up at my stop (Ravenswood) about 10 minutes late. At every stop until Kimball, one bus pulled up next to the other and the drivers exchanged playful insults - complete with expletives - in a kind of camaraderie bus driver game. The problem was that this added about 15 seconds to EACH stop as they called each other cute names and laughed heartily at their fun game. Then the topper - at one stop, my bus pulled past the other, and I saw the other driver extend her arm from her window and give my driver the finger!"
I received a message from "Jonothan" this week, an honest to goodness CTA bus driver. He has many insights into customer service problems, rudeness, and recent service changes at the CTA. Lucky for us he may be writing in on a regular basis. Here's the first installment:
"To start with, I would like to tell you and your readers about three topics: new buses, B.E.C.S., and Operation Clearview.
"New Buses: CTA has ordered approximately 160 new buses from the NOVABUS Corp. These buses will be low-floor, handicapped accessible, and all will have air-conditioning. Delivery is expected to start in March of 2000. At this time, it is unknown what garages will have these buses, but it is likely that North Park garage (on the north side) will probably get a bunch of them. North Park garage operates the northside express buses, the #22, #36, and the #151.
"B.E.C.S.: BECS is short for Bus Emergency Communication System. This is what those blue boxes that are on the drivers side windows of our buses are. During the first phase of startup, the BECS units are a the new way that bus operators will communicate with the bus control center. Instead of talking directly with the controller via the handset, bus operators will instead send messages and receive instructions from the control center through the BECS unit. The unit will also require operators to log on and off with special codes so that CTA will be able to keep track of where its buses are. If at any time a bus is taken off CTA property without the operator logging on to BECS, the bus will be reported stolen to the control center and the police will be informed. Eventually, BECS will also enable the control center to know the exact location of every CTA bus, so that adjustments can be made in service to avoid delays and bus bunching.
"Operation Clearview: Graffiti and window etching is ubiquitous on CTA vehicles, most noteably on its buses. CTA management has finally come up with a solution to this problem. Dubbed 'Operation Clearview', it involves replacing all the windows on the buses and covering the windows with a special film. When someone etches or writes on the window, the film can be peeled off, leaving the original window undamaged. This program is currently taking place at CTA's Forest Glen and Archer garages, where all buses have been given the new window treatments. In conjunction with new windows, the buses at these garages also have been equipped with digital video cameras that can record any events taking place. This is to help discourage criminal activities from taking place and also to provide proof in court when someone is arrested for criminal activity on a CTA bus. Eventually, every CTA bus will receive video cameras and the new windows."
The Weekly Breakdown is a small Internet journal devoted to the trials and tribulations of being a regular rider of the Chicago Transit Authority. I would be happy to hear about and include your experiences. Just send mail to breakdown@urbanophile.com.
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